Future directions for the concept of salutogenesis : A position article

• Aaron Antonovsky advanced the concept of salutogenesis almost four decades ago (Antonovsky, Health, Stress and Coping. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1979; Unravelling the Mystery of Health. Jossey-Bass,San Francisco, CA, 1987). Salutogenesis posits that life experiences shape the sense of coherence (SOC)VC that helps to mobilize resources to cope with stressors and manage tension successfully (determiningone's movement on the health Ease/Dis-ease continuum). Antonovsky considered the three-dimensionalSOC (i.e. comprehensibility, manageability, meaningfulness) as the key answer to his question about theorigin of health. The field of health promotion has adopted the concept of salutogenesis as reflected in theinternational Handbook of Salutogenesis (Mittelmark et al., The Handbook of Salutogenesis. Springer,New York, 2016). However, health promotion mostly builds on the more vague, general salutogenic orientation that implies the need to foster resources and capacities to promote health and wellbeing. Tostrengthen the knowledge base of salutogenesis, the Global Working Group on Salutogenesis (GWG-Sal)of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education produced the Handbook of Salutogenesis.During the creation of the handbook and the regular meetings of the GWG-Sal, the working group identified four key conceptual issues to be advanced: (i) the overall salutogenic model of health; (ii) the SOC concept; (iii) the design of salutogenic interventions and change processes in complex systems; (iv) the application of salutogenesis beyond health sector. For each of these areas, we first highlight Antonovsky'soriginal contribution and then present suggestions for future development. These ideas will help guideGWG-Sal's work to strengthen salutogenesis as a theory base for health promotion.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Salutogenesis

sense of coherence

positive health

salutogenic interventions

Folkhälsovetenskap

Public health science

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